I've posted the following to the UK and Oz facebook pages and emailed it to Channel 5. Would it be useful to send it to anyone else?

" An unfortunate practice has crept into “Neighbours” that makes it difficult often to catch what’s being said. The producers are laying music and sound effects on top of the track at a level that interferes with the dialogue and without micing the actors more closely and as a result the dialogue often gets lost in the background grunge.

It’s doubly unfortunate because the interfering noise is usually superfluous to the story and is often inappropriate or crass and is done with such frequency that it loses any impact it might otherwise have. It just becomes a lazy and counter-productive habit.

I have checked other soaps that I never normally watch (Hollyoaks, East Enders, Emmerdale, Corrie) and none of them use music/acoustics anywhere to that degree or at that level and as a result all of them, unlike Neighbours, sound comprehensible and professional throughout. Please could the producers have a re-think? The first rule of drama is to be able to hear the dialogue. To purposely prevent that is perverse."

They're clearly experimenting with the sound mix in Harold's scenes, as the background music has gone from too far in the background (like a low radio), to about right (pre-2005) levels to blaringly loud. Hopefully the realise which episodes had the right balance and go back to that.

"The reason why Neighbours has flourished for so long is that at the heart of it there are people who care for one another." J Woodburne

Neighbours, squashed tomatoes and potatoes, with Harold in the kitchen, you can find the Perfect Blend